


Moon Eyes

by iwtv



Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, takes place a short time after 6x13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 14:42:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15798639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwtv/pseuds/iwtv
Summary: Alex wonders how to deal with prison without Piper and recalls a fond memory, then has her first visitation with Piper. Just a little something to help me deal with their separation *sobbing loudly emoji*





	Moon Eyes

Piper turned the page and snuggled deeper against her in Alex’s bunk. Alex glanced down at _Astronomy in Pictures _, something Piper had found in the library, chosen namely because Piper had wanted to look at something pretty. And the photographs were very pretty, but Alex was more focused on Piper’s commentary.__

__“I know people see shapes in clouds all the time, but have you ever seen shapes in trees against the horizon?” she asked now, looking at the two-page image of a horizon at dusk, with a treeline._ _

__“Can’t say that I have,” replied Alex, gently stroking her fingers through Piper’s hair. Then, thoughfully, she added, “Except for this tree in my grandmother’s yard when I was little. It looked like an ice cream cone, thinner and v-shaped in the trunk and big and fluffy at the top. Since it was green I called it mint-flavored.”_ _

__“There were two trees behind our house that I always saw the same two shapes in,” said Piper. “One looked like a vagina and the other looked like a giant mole-rat.”_ _

__Alex snorted, grinning._ _

__“A vagina and a mole-rat,” she said. “Were you high or drunk by any chance?”_ _

__“Maybe a little tipsy from vodka,” Piper said with fake defense. “But I still saw them afterwards. And to the right of them every night was the moon. It was always that yellowish-white color when it was full. I can understand why people say the moon is made of cheese.”_ _

__Piper bent her head back to look at her upside-down, dark eyes wide and liquid-like._ _

__“Do you think people really ever thought the moon was made of cheese? Or is that just a particularly bad myth?”_ _

__Alex smiled and laughed softly again. She pushed two wayward strains of blonde hair away from Piper’s forehead._ _

__“I bet that creepy claymation film from like the early days of film had something to do with it, where the moon had a face and a beer can stuck in it or something.”_ _

__Piper made a face. “Oh yea, I remember that. Definitely creepy. The real moon is much more beautiful.”_ _

__“Mm. Not as beautiful as you, my dear,” said Alex._ _

__Piper glanced up at her girlfriend and smiled._ _

__“Are you making moon eyes at me, Ms. Vause?”_ _

__“I don’t do moon eyes,” replied Alex dryly. “But if I did, they would be at you.”_ _

__Piper sat up and twisted on the bunk, one arm bracketing Alex’s side so that she loomed over her._ _

__“I think you are. But don’t worry, I wouldn’t dare tell a soul that you have moon eyes for me.”_ _

__She bent forward and kissed Alex sweetly on the lips. Alex sighed into the contact and kissed her back, giving her just a little bit of tongue before Piper pulled back, bottom lip sucked into her mouth. Alex quirked an eyebrow at her._ _

__“You are completely ruining my entire ‘strong, silent type’ persona, you know that?”_ _

__Piper grinned, teeth still sucking on her bottom lip and Alex felt close to making real moon eyes at her._ _

__“Good,” said Piper. “I prefer you soft and compliant when I’m in your bunk,” she said in a velvet tone._ _

__Alex pushed their lips together again, threading her hand in Piper’s hair…_ _

__\-----------_ _

__“Hey Vause!”_ _

__Alex blinked, the harsh voice shattering her reverie. She looked up from her bunk inside C Block. It was one of Carol’s goons from the kickball game that had taken an unexpected nonviolent turn, a fact Alex was still grateful for._ _

__“You wanna come out and hang?” she asked Alex now. “Some of the girls got bets going over who’s gonna be top dog around here, Murphy or that Russian chick when she gets out of SHU.”_ _

__“Thanks but no thanks,” said Alex. “I’m just gonna do my own thing for a while, I think.”_ _

__The other woman shrugged and left the doorway. Alex let out a heavy sigh. Maybe she should care about what was going on but she didn’t. The tension from the impending gang war had dissolved for now, and both C and D Blocks were still riding the high from the successful kickball game. Not too many seemed upset over Barb and Carol murdering each other. Alex suspected most were relieved those two nutcases weren’t breathing down everyone’s necks anymore. Yet she knew it would only be a matter of time before the tension rose again._ _

__It was hard to care about any of it, though. Her fiancé was out. Early release. And she was still here._ _

__She had been so happy for Piper and still was. She’d been touched to see how upset her future wife was at the idea of being separated, but Alex had put on a brave face. But now in the relative quiet of her tiny cell during rec, she had time to think. And she hated it._ _

__Alex took off her glasses and curled up and against the wall. Four fucking years left. Four years of only being able to see Piper through a pane of glass, of not being able to touch her._ _

__“Fuck me,” she muttered. She fought off the tears that threatened to rise in her eyes. Now was not the time to be vulnerable, not in this place. She wouldn’t have to be Carol’s slave anymore, but Madison Murphy had thrown her a couple of hard looks since the kickball game had ended. She might have been a simple child in some ways but she was a dangerous one, Alex knew. She sighed again and shook it from her mind. Tomorrow would be her first visitation with Piper._ _

__*_ _

__Alex followed close behind the CO as she was led into the visitation area, nearly tripping over him in her eagerness to see Piper. She turned the corner into the room and there Piper was, civilian clothes and all._ _

__Piper lit up immediately._ _

__“Alex!” she said loudly._ _

__“Ten minutes,” the guard gruffed at her as she sat down at the tiny booth._ _

__Piper’s hand was on the glass. Alex reached up and matched it, picking up the phone. Her grin echoed Piper’s as they looked at each other._ _

__“It is so good to see your face,” said Piper, becoming teary-eyed. That wasn’t helping. Alex swallowed._ _

__“You too, babe. You look great. Amazing, actually.”_ _

__Piper glanced down at herself almost sheepishly. Her hair was up, bright and shiny, her cheeks rosy. She wore a cute green shirt with sheer, tight-fitting sleeves. She shrugged._ _

__“I just threw it together at the last minute.”_ _

__“Bullshit,” Alex muttered with a smile._ _

__Piper grinned broadly. It made her heart ache._ _

__“You don’t so bad yourself, Vause,” she quipped._ _

__Alex rolled her eyes. “Please. When I get out of here I’m never going to wear anything brown, orange or dark blue again.”_ _

__“How are you?” Piper asked, growing sincere._ _

__She shrugged. “Good. I’m, ya know, good.” She winced at how forced it sounded. Piper didn’t quite buy it, giving her a dubious look._ _

__“I’m…ok,” she relented. “Nothing much is going on right now anyway, with the two Rambo sisters dead.”_ _

__“Yea, it was all over the news,” said Piper. “Good riddance. At least you won’t have to worry about them from now on. And you’re sure you’re ok? No one is giving you any trouble? Don’t stab anyone, ok?”_ _

__“Only if I see someone with better looking glasses.”_ _

__Piper smile-frowned at her._ _

__“Al—”_ _

__Alex’s heart ached again. Piper’s eyes gazed lovingly at her. Maybe it was her imagination but she looked even more full of love through the pane of glass. She swallowed hard._ _

___The strong, silent type,_ she reminded herself._ _

__“Sorry,” said Alex. “Don’t worry about me, Pipes. I can handle it. Now let’s talk about you.”_ _

__And they did. Piper was living with her brother for now. Despite her complaining about that it was clear she was—finally—excited to be out, but didn’t know quite what to do with herself._ _

__“I keep planning out our wedding,” she said. “I’m terrible at big planning, so I figure with four years to wait I should go ahead and get started.”_ _

__Alex chuckled. It made her heart sing to see Piper on the outside, and ache all the more for being unable to share it with her. Their ten minutes were up too soon and the guard gruffed at Alex to wrap it up. She raised her hand to the glass again. Piper mimicked her, face falling._ _

__“Hey, listen” she said to Piper softly. “Seriously. I don’t want you worrying yourself to death over me in here. Start enjoying life again. Remember the private peeing and coffee?”_ _

__That got a laugh from Piper through her tears. She nodded._ _

__“I will. I love you.”_ _

__“Not as much as I love you,” said Alex, feeling her voice start to quiver._ _

__She made it back to her cell before the tears spilled over. She curled up in her bunk and cried silently, strongly, to herself._ _

__

__The next day when the book cart came around Alex was handed a book on astronomy. There was a picture of a full moon in it, yellowish-white and cheesy. She ran her fingers over it and smiled._ _

***


End file.
